A Short Stacker’s Guide To Winning Poker
Jimmie James Jr.
Copyright © 2013 Jimmie James Jr.
The author is not to be held responsible for any monetary losses incurred by anyone following the strategies laid out within this book. No guarantee of winning at poker is being claimed nor should any guarantee be assumed by the reader. Upon usage of the concepts and strategies provided by the author, the reader assumes full responsibility for any wins or losses incurred as a result. In reading this book, the reader releases the author of all responsibility of any result thereafter incurred.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior consent of the publisher.
The Publisher makes no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any commercial damages.
2013-05-12
Dedicated to all the “Poker Orphans” who had the game they love taken hostage by Black Friday and along with it
their pursuit of happiness.
In this land of liberty, may our leaders have the wisdom to fully restore America’s ultimate game of skill back to We
Acknowledgments
I would like to offer special thanks to those who made the writing of this book possible.
♦ To my mother, without your tireless dedication and editing stamina, this project would have been impossible.
♠ To my father, for introducing me to the game of Poker.
♣ To my children, who offer inspirational diversions from the mundane.
♥ To my wife, Margie, for your patience and understanding during the countless hours my attention has been diverted toward something besides what is most important to me in the world.
Introduction
“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction.”
-Albert Einstein
Everyone wants to be a winner. Pick any competitive game or sport, and I will show you thousands of people dedicated to getting better at it. Poker is no different. Millions of people now play with the hopes of being the next poker “star.” So, with all the interest, why do only a small percentage of poker players become winners over the long term? There is more than one answer to the question, and all are partially correct.
No-Limit Hold’em is a complicated, multifaceted game that is easy to learn but extremely difficult to master. It is unique among most other strategy games, because it can be fun for long stretches of time, even if a person is losing money. And the fact that a complete novice can sit down with the best player in the world and win over the short term makes the game very seductive.
In my opinion, the principle reason it is so difficult to improve at poker has more to do with a lack of sound information and structured learning processes than anything else. That is not to say there is a lack of “authorities” in the poker world. There is no shortage of books, articles, websites, and forums out there that discuss strategy. Occasionally, some of the information is decent, but most of the time it is pure rubbish or, at best, poorly articulated and lacking in clarity.
Currently, the best way to learn is through one-on-one teaching. There are hundreds of poker coaches out there ready to offer up their services to players wishing to improve, but as the old saying goes, “those that can do…” And while this is not always the case, most of the teachers who really know what they are doing charge so much for their assistance that only the very rich can afford them.
There is another hurdle that many people, myself included, face that is almost insurmountable, and that is a lack of time. It is no wonder that the majority of players who dominate poker today are in their early to mid-twenties. They typically have little responsibility and an infinite amount of time day and night to work hard on their games and improve, while the rest of us get left in the dust.
I paint a pretty glum picture for an aspiring poker player with other responsibilities besides his or her poker game. The fact is, the entire reason I am writing this is to give inquisitive players of all ages a fresh avenue for learning the game. And while this is not a complete beginner’s book, those fairly new to the game are given the chance to start off on the right track as winning players by using my strategies. Additionally, more experienced players looking to try something different can benefit from short stacking, as it offers them a chance to rebuild their game from scratch.
My teaching style may be a bit different than what you are used to seeing. It is my philosophy that one should keep things very simple in the beginning and then steadily build upon a solid foundation.
Forcing a beginner to start off by playing a deep stack against skilled players seems ridiculous to me. It’s like handing a seven-year-old a baseball bat and telling him to go learn how to hit by facing a major league pitcher.
Rather, it seems much more natural to learn poker by starting off with a small stack until one masters the basics of the game. My completely chart-based beginner strategy will ease you into things by teaching you a simple and repeatable blueprint for playing winning poker. By just following the charts, a complete novice can begin playing stronger poker today without any knowledge of advanced strategies.
Once the basic system is mastered, you will be ready for the intermediate strategy which builds upon what you have already learned by showing you how to adjust to table dynamics. You will learn to read what other players are doing and adapt your game accordingly. The rest of the book will then be spent adding to your poker repertoire by covering all aspects of every street through practical
explanations and examples.
I will show you how to play a virtually unexploitable pre-flop game and skillfully navigate every post-flop nuance you will face. You will be taught how to think systematically through the merits of checking, calling, raising, or folding. By using my methods, you will rapidly learn to think on a higher level than almost all of your competition.
Beyond strategic considerations, I will also cover every intangible necessary to succeed as an online poker player. I will show you how to use software to obtain reads on other players, how to set up your computer for efficient sessions that maximize hourly rate, and how to adapt your play for a variety of different poker games.
My ultimate goal is to provide a way to get better at no-limit cash games in a progressive way with the least amount of risk possible. Only a minimal investment is needed to employ the concepts I will lay out for you to potentially grow a bankroll into a substantial side income. After reading and
mastering the strategies in this book, you will have a solid foundation based upon fundamental poker concepts and will be well on your way to building your game into a force to be reckoned with as either a full-time or part-time player. The sky is the limit, and your success is only limited by your willingness to work on your game.
How To Learn From This Book
Knowledge and adequate preparation are the keys to winning at poker. Just like any other game or sport, poker has basic fundamentals that, when ignored, lead to leaks that consistently detract from potential winnings. Most poker players, no matter how “accomplished” they think they are, generally have little idea of what they are doing at the table.
The typical approach to teaching poker provides theory without substance and spends very little time showing you how to think through hands in a pragmatic and fundamental way. As a result, it is not really the fault of the ambitious player that his or her game is filled with numerous flaws. It is usually a general lack of direction or improper education that causes someone to play a futile or -EV style of poker. I believe that one should choose the path of least resistance in learning and that poker should be treated just like any other skilled pursuit by starting off very basic and then methodically learning more advanced concepts.
This book is designed to provide a quick and clear path to strong poker by providing all the tools needed to build a complete and well-rounded game. It builds a solid foundation of fundamentals, as it thoroughly covers every aspect of pre-flop and post-flop play. I offer a multi-pronged approach to teaching which includes:
Detailed explanations of fundamental concepts
Practical implementation of fundamentals
Specific strategies to incorporate into your game
Easy to follow charts
Numerous hand examples
Comprehensive quizzes
First, I will discuss why playing a short stack works and introduce you to the key fundamentals that epitomize a strong poker game. I will then provide you with a chart-based basic beginner system. It is a simplified version of a more complex method that is intended as an introductory crash course to short stacking just to get your feet wet. It is designed to make the transition to what may be a new style of play a bit smoother.
Once you fully grasp the basic strategy, you will be ready to move on to the next stage of your development. The intermediate strategy will introduce using a Heads-Up-Display, or HUD, and will incorporate reads based on the stats of opponents into your play. You will learn how to recognize the
relative strength of various holdings depending on the tendencies of other players, table dynamics, and board textures. The intermediate charts will serve as your default strategy going forward. Once you master them, you will likely be playing at a higher level than the majority of your competition. The rest of the book will then be dedicated to showing you how to hone your game and build upon that core strategy.
In between playing sessions, you should always be continuing your study by focusing on areas of your game that you consider to be weak. Once you master the various strategies in this book, you will learn that difficult poker decisions are not as frequent as you might think. The game will then become even more enjoyable because knowledge is power, and outwitting your opponents is fun.
I have divided each strategic concept by chapter. I will cover opening range strategies, 3-betting/4-betting strategies, calling strategies, and post-flop 3-betting/4-betting strategies. Each chapter will slowly add to your poker repertoire and build upon your default strategy by adding tactics to your game that go beyond the charts.
I will then show you how to adjust your hand planning according to what opponents are doing at the tables. You will learn to identify, classify, and adjust key phases of your game to multiple common player types that you will face via a simple and easy-to-remember labeling system.
Last, you will learn how to optimize and improve the efficiency of your play. Chapters 16 and 17 will show you how to manage your day-to-day sessions like a pro, and Chapter 18 will help you hone your mental game.
Automatic Poker is unique among other poker strategies in that it offers a way to get started
immediately moving toward a better game. My basic strategy provides a system that anyone can learn in a matter of minutes and instantly become competitive at the micro stakes. In fact, my strategies are proven in actual play on real money poker sites.
If you already have money on a poker site, you can print my basic charts right now and get started today. Just read through Chapter 5, and off you go. Just keep in mind that the charts in this book are not designed to be a panacea nor a permanent vehicle for success. Their purpose is to provide you with “training wheels” that force you to play with sound poker fundamentals immediately, while you learn. They allow you to overhaul your current game right away and provide a valuable ongoing practice tool for you to use while you continue through the book.
Once you are implementing all the strategies found in these pages, before long, you will find that it is no longer necessary to rely on charts during play. Your game will be rapidly evolving into a well-oiled machine as you learn to base your decisions on table dynamics rather than a static system of
play. Long before you master all the ideas I have provided, you will likely be beating the micros for a respectable win rate. While the strategies in this book are designed for stakes 50NL and below, you may even be able to beat 100NL or higher, although I offer no guarantees. Success depends solely on your willingness to work hard on your game.
Some of you may want to read the entire book first before beginning to put in a significant number of hands. However, I encourage you to go ahead and start playing some while you get the intermediate strategy down, and slowly implement new ideas and adjustments into your game as you go. It is much easier to try to learn the game incrementally rather than all at once.
In summary, here are eight steps to success in using this book:
1. Familiarize yourself with the basic concepts laid out in Chapters 3 and 4.
2. Practice using the beginner charts found in Chapter 5, and then begin playing at the lowest micro stakes available on your chosen poker site.
3. Once you have the beginner system down, set up your Heads-Up-Display (HUD) and begin learning the intermediate charts.
4. Practice using the intermediate charts and then move on to Chapter 8. Use the intermediate charts as your standard strategy going forward.
5. Implement further elements into your game chapter-by-chapter as you continue reading between sessions.
6. Once you get through Chapter 14 and start labeling opponents, you will want to begin gradually making further read-based adjustments to your game as you progress through Chapter 15.
7. Use Chapters 16 and 17 to develop a regular playing and studying routine as you optimize your play.
How Hands Are Illustrated
Occasionally, I will incorporate hand examples that are all taken from actual play. I will either present them in narrative form, or I will use a format common among online forums and blogs. Here is an example:
Sample Hand
No-Limit Hold’em, $0.50 BB (6 handed)
UTG ($50.75)
Hero (HJ) ($19.43) Hero always in bold.
CO ($99.70) 30/20/30 Any opponent stats or reads are included next to players. Button ($49.75)
SB ($15.78)
BB ($59.04) 50/10/20 (VPIP/PFR/AGG%)
Preflop: Hero is HJ with A♥, A♠
1 fold, Hero bets $1, CO calls $1, 2 folds, BB calls $0.50
I will provide commentary in italics to provide information about the hand on a street-by-street basis, as necessary.
Flop: ($3.25) 2♠, Q♣ , 4♣ (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $2.50, CO calls $2.50, BB calls $2.50
Commentary about the flop.
Turn: ($10.75) 4♦ (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $5.38, CO calls $5.38, BB calls $5.38
Commentary about the turn.
River: ($26.89) 2♣ (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $10.55 (All-In), CO calls $10.55, BB calls $10.55
Commentary about the river.
Results:
BB had Q♣ ,T♠ (Two Pair, Queens and fours). Hero had A♥, A♠ (Two Pair, Aces and fours). CO had Q♠,J♠ (Two Pair, Queens and fours). Outcome: Hero won $55.64.
I will typically summarize the hand here.
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As you can see, the format shows the entire hand played out until finished. Some hands will only be partially shown, but this is how it would look from beginning to end. The action is text based and broken down street-by-street. The first line states the game and stakes being played. The next lines set up the players and their stack sizes along with their position. Then the hand plays on a street-by-street basis. Most of the time I will build comments into each example to demonstrate my thought processes on each street.
Stats next to relevant opponents are usually listed as VPIP/PFR/AGG%, but also may include specific notes or reads that I have on the player. VPIP= Voluntarily put money in pot, PFR= Pre-Flop Raise, and AGG%= Aggression percentage. The higher the VPIP, the looser a player enters pots pre-flop. VPIP for tight players is usually less than 15%, and VPIP for loose players is generally above 25%. PFR indicates how often a player raises when he enters a pot and is typically less than 10% for tight players and above 20% for aggressive pre-flop players. AGG% indicates a player’s post-flop aggressiveness. Passive players are usually below 30%, and aggressive players are typically above approximately 35%. The varying percentages are covered in Chapter 6 when you learn to set up your heads-up-display.
The Truth About Short Stacking
The first lesson I am going to teach you is to forget everything you know about a so-called “correct” buy-in amount. There is no reason that you have to sit down at the table with the maximum allowed in order to succeed at poker. Your goal should be to make money, not try to adhere to an arbitrary set of rules.
There is a popular misconception that short-stacking players are relying solely on some kind of pre-flop shoving chart or “system” that has been purchased and downloaded from the Internet. Therefore, the prevailing belief among “mainstream” players is that all short stackers have no skill or talent and are generally dismissed as nothing but an annoyance.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Short stacking is really just a microcosm of deeper-stacked play, and top small stackers are skilled poker players in their own right. They are just playing a different strategy based on buying in for less money. And while stack size fluctuations necessarily affect everyone’s strategy, we are all effectively playing the same game.
Short stackers play by the same rules and post the same size blinds as everyone else. They can raise, fold, check, and call. They use math to make their decisions and plan hands just like deeper-stacked players do. It is still poker, no matter what your chosen buy-in is. A distinct skill set is needed for playing various stack sizes, and strategy must change as a stack grows or shrinks. As a consequence, shorter-stacked players typically have more competence when it comes to adjusting to varying stack sizes than 100 big blind players who always keep their stack topped off.
And contrary to popular belief, while there are much fewer difficult decisions, small-stack play is not purely a “shove fest,” and still requires a great deal of finesse. With 30 big blinds, you have plenty of room to maneuver both pre-flop and post-flop. Just like deeper stacked play, short stacking requires planning every single hand based upon your opponent’s range and tendencies as well as your commitment level.
Why 30 big blinds?
Short stacking is so misunderstood that even the amount which constitutes a short stack is up for debate. Some people feel that anything under 50 big blinds is a short stack, while others feel that a “true” short stacker sits down with 20 big blinds. Among knowledgeable poker players, it seems that most are in the camp that less than 40 big blinds is a short stack, 40-80 big blinds is a mid stack, 80-150 big blinds is a full stack, and anything greater than 80-150 big blinds would be considered deep stacked.
Most short-stacking “systems” concentrate on 20 big blind play. In this book I have focused on playing any stack size under 45 big blinds and suggest a buy-in of 30. After experimenting with many different stack sizes, I have concluded that 30 big blinds seem to provide the perfect balance between allowing for three streets of poker while remaining small enough that a player can comfortably 3-bet shove a wide range before the flop. Having 3-betting and 4-betting simplified during the learning process cannot be understated.
Another good reason for learning with a 30 big blind stack is that a 20 big blind buy-in is no longer an option on many poker sites. In the last couple of years, many sites have raised their minimum buy-in from 20 big blbuy-inds up to 30, 35, or even 40 big blbuy-inds. The changes were made mabuy-inly to appease full-stacked players who are intolerant of players who use a short-stack strategy, because they collectively have trouble beating them. They do not want to have to spend time learning how to beat short stackers and would rather segregate themselves from them altogether.
And when “forced” to play against anyone with less than a full buy-in, full-stacked players are often quite open about how they feel about who they describe as the scum of the earth. It’s rather unfortunate that a player’s chosen starting stack can be such an object of contempt. In fact, sitting down with less than the “standard” buy-in has become such an anathema, that if you post a hand on an online poker forum that has you starting with less than 100 big blinds, you will likely be ridiculed to no end and receive no advice on the hand itself. Some of the vitriol spewed is so intense that you would think short stacking is against the rules.
My thought on the subject is that a lot of these bitter feelings are a carry-over from the “old days.” A generation ago, the thought of buying in for a short stack would have been unthinkable for a good poker player. Before the advent of online poker, a top professional always wanted to have more money in his stack than less-skilled players. This allowed him to wield the full force of his “skill” against them.
Additionally, such a strategy would simply not work in live poker rooms. Once you obtained more than 50 or 60 big blinds, a shift in strategy would have to occur. And sitting out and getting back on a waiting list would not work as a solution. Not only is it a waste of valuable time, it would likely be frowned upon by opponents and the poker room as a form of “going South.”
Today, online players have the ability to come and go as they please, with no such rules of etiquette in place. With the ability to play multiple tables at once, leaving once you hit a goal amount of money is now a viable option. You can simply bring in a new table and start fresh with your chosen starting stack size.
The Advantages Of Playing A Short Stack
It is my opinion that buying in short provides a very good starting point for someone fairly new to NL Hold’em cash games. This is because playing a smaller effective stack solves a lot of problems beginner and intermediate players face. In fact, it solves a lot of problems all players face.
For short stackers, most situations are fairly straightforward, and commitment decisions on the flop become considerably less complicated. Since stack-to-pot ratios will always be lower, one can confidently commit with a wide range of hands. When you flop top pair or an over pair as a short stack, you are almost always committed. In fact, you want to get raised! Let them fire away because you can profitably call it off with confidence.
Small stacking offers a simpler, crisper decision-making process. It seems to me that in any endeavor, we should be more inclined to make things less complicated, not more so. It is much better to play a simple strategy well than a complicated one poorly. Almost every decision one makes at the poker table is much clearer when wielding less chips. Once armed with the right information, a skilled small-stacking player will find that he can make decisions faster, play more tables, and increase his hourly rate. This is all done in a more stress-free poker environment that is conducive to less variance due to a relatively smaller amount of money being in play.
Beyond tactical considerations, short stacking has many other passive benefits that occur without your having to actively do anything. Just sitting in with a small stack significantly alters the dynamics of a table. This is a double-edged sword in the way it inherently affects the games of both you and your opponents. By being able to avoid many of the complicated situations that a full stack is forced to deal with, a lot of potential leaks are inevitably removed from a short stacker’s game. It also tends to
create leaks in opponents who fail to correctly adjust. Here are nine reasons buying in short is
inherently advantageous:
Reason #1: Your Strategy Is a Mystery
Full stackers generally spend all of their time trying to figure out what other full stackers are doing. Because of this, a lot of regular 100 big-blind players will view you solely as a nuisance. One cannot really blame them. No-limit hold’em is a difficult game, and trying to “master” full-stack play is all they want to focus on. They feel that spending time understanding a short-stack strategy would detract from their learning process. To them, you are just another annoying shove bot.
Usually, even skilled full-stack players are either too lazy to try to figure out what you are doing or do not see any merit in doing so. Their focus is solely on deep-stacked poker. That’s their story, and
they’re stickin’ to it. So, the majority of the time regulars will play pot after pot incorrectly against you. Even if they do attempt to adjust, much of the time it will be in the wrong manner, and even more money will be spewed your way.
Reason #2: Mistakes are less punitive
During the learning process, a novice is bound to make numerous errors, so paying less for each blunder is a nice side effect of short stacking. And because the costs of mistakes are diminished, a novice can more freely and confidently make the difficult decisions he or she faces. One also no longer has to worry about a single “bad beat” ruining an entire session. Having KK run into AA or having someone flop a set against your top pair hurts a lot less when it’s only for 30 big blinds.
Reason #3: You Face Fewer Difficult Decisions
Having decisions become much more straightforward and obvious is a positive thing in almost every endeavor in the world, so why not in poker? If you normally play a 100 big blind stack, how often have you had to fold to a river raise or shove and wonder whether or not you were bluffed? How often have you hesitated to value bet the turn, because you were afraid of the pot getting too big by the river?
We have all been in this kind of spot. You flop top pair or an over pair and get raised on the turn. Did he just make a straight? Did he flop a set? Is he bluffing or semi-bluffing? Is it worth another 70 or 80 big blinds to find out? While playing a traditional 100 big blind stack, most sessions include multiple “tough” decisions like this.
Take these two examples. They are exactly the same hand, but played wielding two different size stacks.
Example #2.1: Difficult Button Situation With 100 Big Blinds Effective
No-Limit Hold’em, $0.20 BB (5 handed)
HJ ($2.31) CO($10.76)
Hero (Button) ($20)100 Big Blinds
SB ($20) BB ($19.81)
Preflop: Hero is Button with 5♣ , 6♣
2 folds, Hero bets $0.40, SB calls $0.30, 1 fold
Flop: ($1) 9♣ , 2♦, Q♣ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.50, SB calls $0.50
Turn: ($2) A♣ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1, SB calls $1
River: ($4) Q♠ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $2, SB raises $16.10, Hero folds Total pot: $8
Results:
SB didn’t show.
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Example #2.2: Now this time Hero has about 42 big blinds
No-Limit Hold’em, $0.20 BB (5 handed)
HJ ($2.31) CO ($10.76)
Hero (Button) ($8.50)42.5 Big Blinds
SB ($20) BB ($19.81)
Preflop: Hero is Button with 5♣ , 6♣
2 folds, Hero bets $0.40, SB calls $0.30,1 fold
Flop: ($1) 9♣ , 2♦, Q♣ (2 players)
Turn: ($2) A♣ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1, SB calls $1
River: ($4) Q♠ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $2, SB raises $16.10, Hero calls $4.60 (All-In) Total pot: $17.20
Results:
Hero had 5♣ , 6♣ (flush, Ace high).
SB had 9♦, A♦ (two pair, Aces and Queens).
Outcome: Hero won $17.20.
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What went wrong the first time? Value betting the river was definitely the right play, but once raised all in, Hero’s baby flush shrinks considerably. The board paired, so did he make a full house? Or does he potentially have a better flush?
In the second example, since Hero had only 42 big blinds to start the hand, he was committed once he made the flush on the turn. The only card that could have changed things on the river was another club, and in position, we would be more inclined to check back rather than value bet anyway.
You will encounter situations like this multiple times per session, and while deep-stacked players are racking their brains and spewing chips, you are insta-committing and moving on to the next hand.
Reason #4: The ever-present threat of an all-in bet
On all streets, short stacks wield the threat of an all-in bet that can come at any time. Well-timed reraise shoves cause multiple headaches for your competition. Most players will not know how to correctly react and will concede a latent edge to you each time you stick all your chips in.
Before the flop, 3-bet shoving is a decisive weapon. If your opponents are not well versed in the nuances of range battles, you will be at a significant advantage anytime you sit down with them. An expert 3-bet shoving strategy seeks to take advantage of multiple tactical mistakes that unskilled players commonly make. Among them are:
Opening raises that are too large, especially from late position:
Open raising too large while we are sitting behind them can be a giant leak for our opponents. We exploit their incorrect opening raise size by widening our 3-bet ranges based on the size of
their bet. If they do not similarly adjust their calling ranges, we profit.
Loose opening ranges coupled with tight all-in calling ranges:
Calling our shoves too tightly will cause money to leak away from this type of opponent in the form of non-showdown earnings. In other words, the dead money we win when we shove and are not called, more than makes up for the few times we get called and have inferior equity.
All-in calling ranges that are too loose:
Our superior equity versus loose calling ranges yields a net profit via showdown winnings. We just have to make sure we do not 3-bet light against these players and that our shoves are for value.
An incorrect interpretation of Hero’s 3-Bet range:
Opponents who are employing a HUD will often fail to realize that we are 3-betting a different range against various players. For example, we may have a raw 3-bet stat of 8% against the field but 3-bet much higher against certain opponents. If those players base their actions on a range of 8%, the profit over time will be immense.
After the flop, a short stack’s commitment range is generally much wider than it is for a full-stacked player. Unskilled players will tend to fold many times tighter or looser than is correct due to their inability to comprehend commitment decisions. Clever players will think they need to call your all-in bets with weaker holdings, as they may assume you are stacking off lighter in any given situation than you really are. This provides more abundant opportunities for you to get paid off on your strong hands. As long as we take note of our opponents’ commitment ranges based on their HUD stats or through keen observation, we can fairly easily exploit them through minor adjustments.
Profit in poker comes from our ability to consistently make decisions superior to what the field is making. Therefore, we should create as many opportunities for them to make mistakes as we can. The frequent barrage of all-in decisions coupled with our wide opening range and constant aggression otherwise, guarantees more profitable opportunities per hour than our counterparts can muster.
Reason #5: An inherent beneficial image
Opponents maintaining a prejudice against short stackers is a major leak from which we frequently benefit. Many players seem to become blinded to key factors during the course of play because they dismiss, underestimate, or undervalue an opponent based solely on their chosen buy-in amount. You will find players doing crazy -EV things against you because of their hatred of short stackers.
player. Many feel that if a person were any good at all, he wouldn’t have to resort to short stacking and could just buy in full. So regulars will often play against you as if you were a fish. This type of image is advantageous and benefits you in many ways.
Additionally, because of your wide stealing range and somewhat frequent 3-bet shoves, some players will inevitably view you as a maniac. In my opinion, this is the most beneficial image you can obtain. It is human nature that some players will become annoyed when an opponent seems to be raising every hand. By seemingly playing a wide-open game, you will inevitably get played back at, and the value of your strong hands will soar. To illustrate this point, take a look at this hand played against a solid regular.
Example #2.3: Opponent makes a calling error
No-Limit Hold’em, $0.50 BB (6 handed)
UTG ($42.40)
HJ ($47.08) 16% Hijack opening range CO ($29.95)
Hero (Button) ($17.25) 34.5bbs
SB ($50.27) BB ($26.59)
Preflop: Hero is Button with A♣ , Q♣
1 fold, MP bets $1.50,1 fold, Hero raises to $17.25 (All-In),2 folds, MP calls $15.75 (All-In)
This is not a slam dunk shove from the button but should certainly show a profit against an average calling range of 77+, AJ+.
Flop: ($35.25) 3♥, 10♠, 9♠ (2 players, 2 all-in)
Turn: ($35.25) 2♦ (2 players, 2 all-in)
River: ($35.25) 9♦ (2 players, 2 all-in) Total pot: $35.25
Results:
Hero had A♣ , Q♣ (one pair, nines). MP had A♥, 8♥ (one pair, nines).
Outcome:
Hero won $35.25.
It is doubtful that my opponent would have often called a 3-bet or 4-bet against me if I had 100 big blinds. Yet, he somehow decides to call off 35 big blinds with a weak-suited ace. I would need to be 3-betting well over 20% for his call to be profitable. Clearly, I am never 3-betting that much against his Hijack range, which makes his play a gross error.
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Other players will react differently. They may not be comfortable loosening up their ranges, so they may do the opposite and begin nut camping to try and “trap” and “bust” you. When this occurs, the non-showdown earnings will flow into your account as you steal and c-bet bluff against them relentlessly.
An inherent image will also benefit you after the flop. Opponents will tend to call your unrelenting c-bets with weaker holdings and pay off your big hands with increased frequency. Since we can’t really “hurt” them or threaten their stack, they may call one or two streets with a weak holding, knowing they can’t really be put to a test. I never fail to be surprised at the trash with which players will call a three-barrel shove. Even your weaker hands increase in value because you gain the opportunity to profitably c-bet a lot lighter against many opponents.
Reason #6: Having a small stack size makes you less “bluffable”
Due to lower stack-to-pot ratios, any bet made by a short stack after the flop will appear more committing than it would for a deeper stacked player. Based on a sound strategy, once a large amount of the effective stack has been invested, it would be a big mistake to raise and then fold to a shove. This type of thinking is generally correct; however, what people widely misunderstand is that commitment works a bit differently for a loose aggressive short stack.
Bets made by a LAG are typically based more around pressure and the mathematical merit of winning the pot on a street-by-street basis rather than strictly on stack-to-pot ratios. As a consequence, commitment for a LAG really only comes into play on equity decisions. For example, we can often correctly stack off with draws on the turn when bigger stacks can’t. Favorable commitment scenarios with a flop bet-turn check/raise line are much easier to create with smaller stack sizes.
The way we exploit this miscalculation is simple. Since skilled players are less likely to bluff against opponents who appear committed, versus thinking players, you can comfortably bet-fold mediocre hands to re-raises and not be overly concerned about getting bluffed.
Reason #7: Players Cannot Effectively Set Mine You
There are players out there who have built their entire game around “set mining” or “nut camping.” Beyond waiting for premium holdings, their basic strategy is to wait for pocket pairs, call an opponent’s pre-flop raise, and then hope to get all of the money in when they hit a set.
The reason this can be effective is due to the implied potential to win a huge pot should they spike a set. For example, if a 100 big blind opponent opens for 3x, then the nut peddler is only investing a maximum of 3bbs with the potential to win the 97 still behind. Because 97/3=32.3, the nut peddler would be getting 32.3 to 1 implied odds when heads up. And since a set will be flopped by a player approximately every 1 in 8 times, if more than 8 times the initial investment is won on average when he hits a set, then the play will be profitable.
The general rule of thumb agreed upon by good players is that you need at least 20 to 1 implied odds in order to set mine against most players. The problem is, versus a min-raiser with a 30 big blind stack, the formula now becomes 28/2=14. As you can see, the play is now less than half as effective and will surely lose money over the long term.
Furthermore, no matter what someone’s stack size is, they should not be limiting their strategy to such a narrow path to profit. In NL Hold’em, you should be constantly attacking the table, not impotently sitting back waiting for the money to come to you. Set mining is passive poker, and passive poker is losing poker.
An erroneous set mining strategy is further exacerbated by attempting to do so against a wide opening range. Since there are a lot fewer flops that we will be willing to stack off on, the play is even less profitable. So anytime someone set mines you and the money happens to go in, even if you lose, just remember that you made a lot of long-term EV money due to your opponent’s bad play.
The naysayers will scoff and point out that the inability to set mine is a two-way street. It is true that short stacks have a difficult time obtaining the correct odds to ever set mine. Even so, at least we
know it’s a losing play and can refrain from incorporating it into our game. All the while, many
players who are just going through the motions will unprofitably try to set mine us again and again. Just by buying in short, you have completely destroyed their entire game plan. There is no way they can beat you, unless they completely overhaul their strategy against you.
Reason #8: The ability to play higher stakes with a smaller bankroll
Risk of ruin is defined as the likelihood of an individual losing so much of his bankroll that he cannot continue playing. Buying in for smaller amounts of money inherently lowers that risk and creates the potential for a more rapid ascent in stakes. Additionally, swings will typically not happen nearly as fast, so a player can confidently buy into a higher stake with much smaller risk and move up and down in limits, with ease.
Small-stacking players need about 1/4 of the bankroll in order to play the same stake that a full-stacked player does. So while intelligent 100 big-blind players are waiting for a bankroll of $2,500 or higher to play 50NL, you are already grinding it out at 100NL with only $1,200. The benefits of being able to more aggressively build a bankroll cannot be overstated.
Having a much smaller working bankroll is also nice, because in today’s volatile online poker climate, it is prudent not to have much money tied up in your account. One only needs to consider what happened to Full Tilt poker players on Black Friday to understand the importance of this. That fact alone makes short stacking a wise alternative for a professional poker player.
Reason #9: No More C Game
We all have days when we are not completely with it. Sometimes we probably should not be playing at all, but depending on how important poker income is to you, this may not be an option. One of the benefits of short stacking is that auto-piloting is a lot less detrimental to your win-rate. Not only are mistakes a lot less punitive, much more of your play is automatic compared to deep-stacked play, and there are not nearly as many mentally taxing situations encountered during a session.
Whether it is physical tiredness, lack of sleep, or something going on non-poker related, everyone has days where their mind is not firing on all cylinders. Regardless of the reason, it gives you peace of mind to know that even on your worst day, you can still at least play your B game and never have to worry about spewing too badly in your sessions.
The Fundamentals Of Poker
Poker is just like any other game or sport. Once you learn the fundamentals as part of an overall strategy, you then can focus on the subtle nuances of the endeavor in order to rise above the competition. No one has ever been any good at anything their first time trying it. There always has to be some foundation for success.
Take basketball, for example. There have been decades of trial and error on what works and does not work on the court. Innovators find better ways of doing something, and then eventually it becomes a fundamental.
In the old days of the game, players employed a two-handed set shot with both feet firmly planted on the ground. In the late 1920s, someone figured out that the one-handed set shot was much more accurate. The game was revolutionized and scoring soared. This innovation, of course, led to the jump shot, which was invented sometime in the 1930s.
Today, when kids are taught how to shoot, they are shown tried and true fundamental motions of how to hold the ball, proper stance, and correct release. If any of the fundamentals are ignored, the player’s potential will be limited. I feel poker works very much the same way. If a player is not versed in the fundamentals of basic play, then his or her game will suffer.
The golf swing is another great example of what fundamentals can do to your game. Not only do you have to do certain things correctly, you have to make sure you eliminate all the bad motions as well. Case in point, let’s take a look at the player who perhaps had the greatest fundamentals of any golfer ever. In fact, he invented many of the fundamentals of modern golf.
Ben Hogan
Ben Hogan is arguably the greatest golfer of all time. He spent countless hours on the range working on his swing and was well-known for his tireless work ethic. He became a student of the game of golf, and had a keen determination to perfect the golf swing. His method involved removing all of the unnecessary moving parts in his swing, until all he had left were a few fundamental efficient movements. It took him several years to develop it, but once he did, he had full command of not only his golf swing, but just about every tournament he played.
It is my aim to do the same thing in this book. But instead of removing the extra moving parts found in a golf swing, in poker you will take away actions that are fundamentally unprofitable. What I will teach you to do is systematically eliminate all of the leaks from your game.
A leak is an action that would show a long-term monetary loss when repeated throughout a career. Any strategy rife with strategic flaws that has you consistently making tactical errors will lose money. An extreme example would be calling 3-bets all-in with 32o. You could win five times in a row over the short term, but if you make this call a thousand times during a career, you are sure to lose a boatload of money. So how do you fix this leak? You simply stop calling 3-bet all-ins with 32o. Seems obvious, right?
The trick is, most leaks are not this clear cut. A player may have enough positive results over the short term with a losing strategy so as to be fooled into thinking it is correct to play in such a way. Without the perspective of a large enough sample size to provide ample negative reinforcement, one could not know about his or her slow monetary bleed.
Ben Hogan used trial and error to work on his swing. He would remove or add a movement to his swing, and afterward hit hundreds of balls. Then he would make a small adjustment and repeat. He had the luxury of a driving range and shots that did not count in which to master his technique. If you tried this method in poker, you would surely go broke many times over before you had a game streamlined enough to make a profit.
Lucky for you, other people have already crossed these bridges and made these mistakes. Today, people can watch Ben Hogan’s golf swing and copy it movement for movement, and through diligent practice, build a serviceable swing with very few “leaks.” Hogan already paved the way for many generations of golfers to benefit from his diligence.
You can do the same in poker with the correct information around which to build your game. Just like golf, poker has fundamentals as there are basic things you can do and not do in order to successfully play a profitable game. However, just like in golf, being armed with all the right information does not instantly make you a great player. You still have to get out there and practice what you learn. Your “driving range” will be the strategies in this book used at the micro-stakes.
Implementing Poker Fundamentals
A person does not necessarily need to know the theory behind a fundamental in order for it to help their game. One can reap the rewards by just adhering to its principles. And while most poker fundamentals are actually very elementary, they are largely ignored by the vast majority of players. Why is this?
My take on it is that almost all poker players are egotistical to some degree. Generally, everyone thinks they are the best poker player at the table when they sit down. They already know the “correct” way to play, and anything anyone else does that does not conform to their approach to the game is dismissed as bad play. It is my feeling that this general lack of awareness that their poker game even has leaks is the main reason many people fail to take the time to try to improve or learn new ideas. They are completely satisfied with their game, and simply see no need to waste their time improving upon “perfection.”
On the other hand, many people play for recreation only and might not even see poker as a game of skill. All they live for is the big all-in situations where they hope lady luck is on their side so they can take down that monster pot. To them, poker is one big lottery ticket and should be treated as any other form of gambling. They may even think any poker “system” is just a scam and a waste of time.
Even those actively seeking improvement can have a tough time of it. For ambitious players who desire to get better, the world can be a frustrating place. There is so much information out there now that even knowing where to start escapes many people. Much of the literature available to players tends to focus only on exciting big hands and large pots. Very little discusses what you do the other 95% of the time where the true profit is located.
The reality is, an average poker session for a professional can be truly boring. Winning poker is not exciting poker. This is not to say that poker cannot be fun when someone has an edge over his opponents. It just means that pleasure is generally not solely derived from those few and far between high points that come in the form of monster hands and big pots.
The best way to get started and begin building discipline into any poker game is to learn and adhere to a few fundamentals. Once mastered, one can have complete confidence that he or she is making sound basic decisions. This frees up thought to focus on more nuanced or advanced strategies which, in turn, increase profit.
Automatic Poker is designed around several core principles. As you continue through this book, you
will begin to learn the theory behind the fundamentals, and your game will inevitably move to the next level. Before I go into detail on the fundamentals of what you should be doing, let me go through a
few things that you should not be doing. Here is a list of leaks that a large percentage of all players exhibit:
Open limping to try to see a “cheap” flop
Calling pre-flop raises in the blinds because your hand is “too good to fold” Passive Play
Failure to try to build big pots with big hands
Playing level 1 poker (only thinking about your own hand)
I could probably name a hundred more leaks, but these are the most common ones I see. If you are guilty of any (or all) of these, here is the good news. You can stop doing them today and vastly improve your game. By using my strategies, your game will instantly shed all of these leaks. At the same time you will also begin adhering to many of the important fundamentals of poker. The major ones are:
Playing in position Playing with initiative
Keeping pressure on your opponents
Playing big pots with big hands and small pots with small hands Thinking in ranges
Using my charts will have you implementing the first three fundamentals instantly while betting strategies and thinking in ranges will take a bit more work to incorporate, because, as previously stated, the charts can only take you so far. You cannot rely solely on them to become a complete poker player.
It is best to think of the charts only as training wheels. By using them initially, your game will be repeatable and automatic. They will allow you to play with strong fundamentals while you train your poker mind and learn more sophisticated concepts. Let’s take a closer look at the three most important fundamentals of all.
The Big Three
There are three key fundamentals exhibited by any strong overall strategy. They are position, initiative, and pressure. Every poker hand you will ever play will somehow be influenced by these
key concepts. Failure to understand and implement any one of these ideas into your game will be at the peril of your bottom line.
Playing in position and with initiative are the most important strategical aspects of any poker game. In fact, building the foundation of your entire strategy around nothing else but these two fundamentals will give you an overwhelming advantage over anyone who does not. Hand planning changes significantly depending on whether you are in or out of position and whether or not you possess the initiative. When you have only one or the other or neither going for you, your game will be severely constricted. But by having both working in tandem, you have additional ways of applying pressure to opponents and many more avenues to profit.
The consistent application of pressure on opponents is an important facet of any winning strategy. In a game based on initiative, it is a fundamental aspect of just about everything you do. When you steal, you are applying pressure. When you 3-bet, you are applying pressure. When you continuation bet, you are applying pressure.
If you want to think about it in a theoretical sense, playing the majority of your hands late begets position, position begets initiative, initiative begets pressure, pressure begets mistakes from opponents, and mistakes from opponents beget profit. By following these three principal fundamentals, you will consistently find yourself in many more profitable spots and many less marginal or unprofitable situations than your less technically correct opponents. Ultimately, winning the small battles over time is the key to a profitable poker game.
Position
Position is hands down the most important facet of a strong poker strategy. It is also the most
consistent source of leakage found in your average player. While most players generally understand what position means, they still typically play way too many hands out of position and not nearly enough while in it. Situational factors can modify your range on a given hand, but generally, you should be relying less on the quality of your starting hands and more on where you are seated at the table when deciding whether or not to enter a pot.
The strategies in this book will have you playing the vast majority of your hands in position. If you are a beginner, you don’t need to completely understand why position is so powerful. Just follow the opening ranges I have provided, and you will be playing a positionally sound game.
Basics Of Position
To be in position means to act last. This is determined by your seat at the table. Starting with the small blind and working your way clockwise around the table, your position at the table
progressively improves. This is because there is one less person that can act after you as you move toward the button, and the likelihood of you being in position after the flop increases.
If you are the last player to act once the flop comes down, you are in position (IP), and if you are not last to act after the flop, you are out of position (OOP). The small blind never acts last. The big blind only acts last after the small blind. Under the gun only acts last after the blinds. You get the idea. The button always acts last on every single post-flop poker hand played and, as a result, is the absolute best position from which to play.
As you move closer to the button and are more likely to be in position after the flop, you will be opening progressively more hands. The only exception is that you will steal a ton of hands from the small blind. Many other factors far outweigh being out of position in this situation, which makes open raising here very profitable, assuming you have a sound post-flop game. I will go deeper into small blind play in Chapter 8.
Why play in position?
The power of position permeates all facets of your poker game. Every single hand that you play out of position finds you fighting an uphill battle. You always need to make a conscious effort to play many more hands while acting last. Here are four reasons playing in position is so powerful:
1. Acting last gives you more information than your opponents
Being in position affords you the advantage of being able to see everyone act before you. As a result, you have more information on which to base your decisions than anyone else at the table. I feel that the easiest way to illustrate this informational advantage is by discussing hands in terms of relative strength. And by relative strength, I mean the profitability of playing individual hands both in and out of position.
For example, T♠9♠ in the small blind is a different hand than T♠9♠ on the button. T♠9♠ on the button is exponentially more profitable. Why is this so? It’s because the button has you playing the hand in position and acting after everyone else after the flop.
Let’s say you pick up T♠9♠ twice against the same opponent heads up. The situation is exactly the same both times except for one factor, position. Each time effective stacks are exactly the same, initiative is the same, and even history and game flow are identical. The only difference is that one time you act first, and the other time you act last. In both cases, you open raise and get called by one player. The flop comes T♦8♣ 2♦. In either scenario, you have the option to check or bet when it is your turn.
In position, you bet the flop and get called, and the turn is a blank 4♥. You bet the turn and once again get called. The river is a J♦ that brings an over card and makes a straight and flush possible. Your opponent shoves all-in, and you quickly fold. Your opponent shows down a flush and scoops the pot.
Out of position, you lead out on the flop and get called. The turn comes a blank 4♥. You once again lead the turn and your opponent calls. The river is a J♦ that brings in flush and straight possibilities. Checking seems pretty bad since your read is that your opponent either has a weak made hand or a draw. You can get value from worse hands, so you decide to bet-fold the river. He shoves all-in over your bet, and you quickly throw your hand away. He flashes his flush, and you feel very good about your fold.
When you were in position, your opponent was unable to extract more money from you once he hit his hand since you acted last on the river. You had more information on each street and were able to mitigate your loss.
Another example has you raising from middle position and getting calls from both blinds. In position, you flop top pair mid kicker. One player leads out, and the tight player next to act reraises all-in. You decide your one pair hand is no good and fold, only losing your initial raise.
Now imagine the same hand, but this time you raise from middle position and get called by the cutoff and button. You again flop top pair and continuation bet 3/4 pot. The loose player next to act raises
you, and then the button goes all-in. You are forced to fold and, once again, lose an extra bet due to being out of position.
2. Pot size control
One of the fundamentals of poker is to strive to play big pots with big hands and small pots with small hands. Position allows you to much more easily control the size of the pot. Once again, let’s look at an example where everything is exactly the same except for your position:
You have T♣ T♥ and are the pre-flop aggressor in a heads up pot. The flop comes J♥J♦2♣ , and you decide that it’s likely that you have the best hand the majority of the time and are looking to get two streets of value.
In position, you bet when you are checked to and get called. The turn comes a K♠, and you decide to check behind for pot control. The river is a 4♠, and your opponent leads out. You decide that calling is best, and you have achieved your goal of two streets of value. He turns over A♥3♣ , and you scoop the pot.
Out of position, you lead out and get called. The turn is a K♠, and you decide to check for pot control. Your opponent bets, and you call. The river is a 4♠, and you once again check. Your
opponent bets the river big, and you are in a tough spot. You decide to fold, and he shows the A♥3♣ bluff and drags in the chips.
Because you were out of position, your opponent was able to inflate the size of the pot and put you in a difficult spot. Without the ability to close the action with a check on the turn, looking up a bluff on the river became too expensive for a third pair hand. Deciding whether that last bet goes into the pot is a very important luxury to have in poker. We only get to make that final decision and control the size of the pot while in position.
3. You have more bluffing opportunities
An often overlooked advantage of acting last is in those small pots in which no one seems to take any interest. If you are in position in a limped pot and everyone checks to you, it is generally a mistake not to bet as everyone else has shown weakness and will fold often enough to make the bluff
profitable. You should bet especially by the turn, since someone with a piece of the board will usually have bet by then. Even if called, the river usually sets up as a good bluffing opportunity against someone who stubbornly called with a weak pair or some kind of draw.
In raised pots, you will also be given the choice of bluffing 5th street more often. After getting to the river, you have one more piece of information to work from before deciding to bet. In position, you will either be checked to or bet into, giving you useful information. Out of position, you are often left playing guessing games.
4. It is easier to get value in position
are in position. As we have already discussed, being last to act allows you to control the size of the pot and ultimately decide how much money goes in. This is why calling in the blinds to try to hit a hand is so terrible. Because, not only do you not make a strong hand often enough to justify the call, you also have difficulty building a big pot even when you do hit.
Initiative
There seems to be a lack of literature on the subject of initiative. This is unfortunate since, after position, playing with initiative is the most important strategic thing we can do as a poker player. It comes down to a matter of control. Once you give up initiative, you are at the mercy of your
opponents.
Having initiative means that you were the pre-flop aggressor on the prior street or that someone has checked to you after the flop. If you raised pre-flop or post-flop and were called, you have
initiative. The only way you can get initiative after not seizing it pre-flop is to raise post-flop or have someone give up their initiative by checking to you.
You want to be the aggressor and have initiative throughout almost every hand you play. There are very specific situations where this is not the case, but they are few and far between. The vast majority of your hands should be played in position with you as the pre-flop aggressor.
The reason having initiative is so powerful is that it always keeps fold equity on your side and gives you a way to win hands even if your holding is not strong. And if you get raised at any point during the hand, you almost always have the final decision on whether that last bet goes in. If you were just calling bets all along, the only way you could win is by making the best hand at showdown. When you have initiative, you always get the last word.
Playing without initiative also lowers the relative hand strength of any holding. This is mostly due to c-bet bluff earnings, which are non-existent without initiative. By opening a hand pre-flop, you are giving yourself multiple chances to win the pot. First, everyone can fold, and you take down the blinds uncontested. Second, you can usually make a profitable c-bet on the flop and take down the pot often enough that you never need to actually make a hand.
If you call a raise, this can never happen, and you must play a flop. Furthermore, as a short stack, you will usually not have the implied odds to try to make a hand and extract enough money to compensate for the times you whiff. On the flip side of the coin, when your opponents call your pre-flop raises, they are making an error as well. And trust me, your opponents will make this error quite frequently.
The reason going to the flop without control of the pot is generally bad, especially for a short stack, is because it forces you to play fit or fold poker. You simply will not make enough hands to overcome the times you miss the flop and are compelled to fold. But perhaps the worst part of playing without initiative is you will be forced to give up the best hand very often when you check and fold a marginal holding.
Except for a few specific situations, it is always more profitable to be the one controlling the hand. Most of the time, if you cannot maintain the initiative because you get raised or the board texture is not conducive to continuing, your best play is to give up and check and/or fold.
My strategy will have you going to the flop without initiative only in specific situations. Most
commonly, this will happen when you complete the small blind. Less frequently, you will call a pre-flop raise with significant implied odds, but generally this is only after there has been a raise and at
least one other caller. Except for limping, my charts do not define when you should or should not make pre-flop calls. Because a number of factors weigh in when making such a decision, I will cover these instances separately in Chapter 10.
Ultimately, poker without initiative is poker without aggression, and passive play is highly
unprofitable in No’Limit Hold-em. A game based upon position and initiative gives you the ability to apply constant pressure to your opponents.
Pressure
The benefits of persistent aggression are numerous and inherently exploitative. You apply pressure to constrict your opponent’s play, modify your image, pick up dead money, and instill fear in other
players, ultimately causing them to make mistakes against you.
Examples of strategically applying pressure include stealing, 3-betting, and c-betting. An aggressive stealing game pressures the blinds, an aggressive 3-betting game pressures raisers, and an aggressive c-betting game pressures pre-flop callers. Additionally, the player who controls the action tends to pick up the pots where no one has a showdown worthy hand.
Consistently applying pressure also establishes an aggressive image among observant opponents. Many players will become frustrated by your attacking style and will begin actively avoiding you. Others will try to get into wars with you in order to “shut you down” and will generally spew money your way when they run into the top of your range.
If you play passively, then you are letting your opponents dictate the action, which forces you to make hands to win pots. By consistently leaning on your opponents, you are always keeping fold equity on
your side. Therefore, when employing an aggressive poker game, you have access to income from two sources, showdown and non-showdown earnings. A potential by-product of a sound strategy
The Infamous Red Line
In case you do not know what the red line is, it is a graphical representation that poker tracking software uses in its graphs to chart your non-showdown winnings. Whenever a hand ends before showdown, those earnings go to the non-showdown winnings column of one player or another. But contrary to popular belief, positive red line earnings do not come from making crazy bluffs and playing like a maniac. They come from adhering to a sound aggressive strategy, adjusting to opponents, maintaining initiative, and applying pressure.
The biggest reason many players suffer from a free-falling red line is due to passive play via an indiscriminate pre-flop calling strategy. If you call without a plan only to fold later in the hand, you are spewing money that shows up in your graph in an ugly red line spiraling downward. Using my implied odds based calling strategy will eliminate this leak.
One way to improve your red line earnings is to change the way you are playing pots you currently enter. Thin value betting is an example of this. If you are checking behind a lot of rivers where you’re likely to have the best hand due to a fear of getting check-raised, you are adding much more money to your showdown winning column than you should be. Betting where your opponent is likely to fold will have the pot going into the non-showdown column instead. Unfortunately, changing your post-flop play in this manner will just shift money around from the showdown column to the non-showdown column, so you are not likely to significantly increase your overall win-rate. All you will get out of it is a warm and fuzzy feeling from a better looking red line.
The way to increase your red line without negatively affecting your showdown winnings is in pots you are not currently entering at all. The easiest ways to find additional non-showdown earnings is through more aggressive pre-flop stealing and light 3-betting. In both instances, it involves being mindful of your opponents and exploiting them through small adjustments.
I find the simplest way to implement a more robust stealing game is to ramp up the pre-flop
aggression against the correct people. If you are in late position and have tight players sitting to your left, you should be raising with reckless abandon until they adjust. I am talking about any two cards here if the situation is right.
Finding spots for light 3-betting is a bit more tricky. Even if you have an opponent raising very
loosely on your immediate right, you still need to weigh in several factors before deciding to go crazy on him. I will cover this in greater detail in Chapter 9.
Overall, the key to improving your red line and overall win rate at the same time comes down to having a game built on intelligently applying pressure to your opponents both pre-flop and post-flop through specific adjustments to your overall strategy. As your game improves, your call button will begin to disappear as an option. Once you achieve this, your red line will stop nose diving and begin to swing upward.
Notice that the non-showdown winnings (bottom line) have a steady upward trend. Some of this comes from aggressively stealing, but mostly it comes from consistently playing with initiative and
The Bet-Fold
While not a fundamental in itself, the bet-fold is a tool that good players employ in order to get value in situations where they are usually best and will typically only get raised when beaten. It is an
excellent way to keep pressure on your opponents and avoid falling into the passive trap of the check-call.
The bet-fold is employed in marginal spots where you may or may not have the best hand. Instead of checking and then playing a guessing game on whether or not you have the best hand, you instead bet with the intention of folding to a raise.
Everyone has been in the situation where the turn brings the ultimate scare card. Our hand is still strong, but it is now very possible that our opponent made a better hand. Most players would check behind and call a river bet in position or go for a check-call, check-call line out of position. This is the worst possible way to play the hand. By bet-folding the turn instead, only good things happen:
1. You get another street of value from worse hands.
2. You give your opponent the option to raise the turn now with the best hand, allowing you to fold much more cheaply than check-calling two streets would cost.
3. In position, you give yourself the option of setting the price of showdown, if your opponent calls your bet and then checks again on the river.
My charts are set up to follow an aggressive bet-fold line with all non-nut value hands. The best rule of thumb to remember is that if you are unsure of what to do, you should always bet.
